Traditionally, bringing an alarm monitoring customer online requires many hours of work even if the system is already physically installed, as the system must be programmed, the customer educated in using the system, contact and billing information gathered, and all of this information entered into the central station database. Once the account is active, staff must remain on call to assist the customer in testing the system regularly, make changes to the system's programming, make changes to the contact information on file for the customer, bill the customer, and handle other situations that arise regularly.
All of this labor-intensive activity adds to the cost of alarm system activation, installation, monitoring, and maintenance. As a result, alarm system companies have to charge more for monthly monitoring, or charge for such activation services. As the alarm monitoring business may have narrow margins to begin with, and is rather competitive, it would be advantageous to reduce such costs be eliminating or minimizing such labor-intensive activities.
In the prior applications cited above, from which applicant claims priority, an alarm redirection system is disclosed whereby alarm signals from a user's alarm system may be sent to a middleware processor. This processor may then redirect the alarm signals, in a standardized format, to a monitoring center. The monitoring center then performs the standard monitoring functions, such as calling Police and Fire officials and the like when an alarm sounds. The use of the middleware processor allows the user to switch monitoring companies without having to change hardware. Moreover, the middleware processor provider can package monitoring services and sell them to an end user, selecting from various alarm monitoring providers for the best price and service.